vas25tl

Hey guys,

Got a problem. When it's very moist, the car starts acting up and starts misfiring. This has happened 3-4 times now. The car sputters for a while and the check engine starts to flash. I pull over, shut the car off, sit for a minute and continue on with the CEL on. It always goes off itself before I can scan it.

Today was probably the worst it's been, it flashed a few times and it was blowing out steam from the exhaust. Def a misfire but what do you guys think could be causing it?

TLin401

Your car is in limp mode. My friend was telling about it as I was reading this because he has the same problem with his car. I found a site and even though this is about a jaguar it still relates to your car.

fail safe mode is something the vehicle computor will go into when there is a problem with the vehicle it allows u to get off the highway or road safely you need to take vehicle to repair shop or your dealer which ever u prefer

Failsafe engine mode on a 2000 jaguar s type is caused by a stopped up throttle body. Jaguar says not to clean the throttle body since it has a protective coating to help keep deposits from accumulating. You can clean the throttle body as long as you use ONLY throttle body cleaner that states it is safe to use with a protective coating. The butterfly valve in the throttle body will actually stick not allowing air to flow into the manifold causing failsafe engine mode to kick in reducing the amount of power your engine will produce. To solve the issue just clean out your throttle body, it will cost you around $5 dollars and take 1 hour of your time.

Potential Answer

Limp mode initiates when the engine computer(s) note a problem that can cause serious damage to the engine or electrical components. The car engages limp mode and will not go into higher gears as a protective measure.

My Mercedes SLK230 did the same thing; the dealer tested the car and told me there was nothing that could be done and that I should sell the car ASAP. I took the car home, opened up the computer under the passenger side floor board and found that the male-female connectors were not completely seated (some days the car drove well and other times I would have this problem, which almost resulted in several accidents on the highway). I pushed in the computer connectors and the car has been great ever since (2 years now). Therefore, check your computers to see if you have a loose connection(s).

hope this helps

vas25tl

^Thanks but I don't think that's the problem. My car is not going into "limp mode", it's misfiring. And it's only misfiring when it's moist out. Limp mode is when the car basically goes into a similar situation of a "safe mode" on a computer. You have some life, but a lot of usability goes away to prevent any more damage until it is looked at.

I'm not really losing power it's just misfiring. If I get on the gas hard enough it kind of unclogs and runs okay but initial acceleration is where the issue is happening. It did it for the last 2 days - it was raining. Today - no rain - no issue.

I'm thinking it has something to do with plug wires..I don't remember the last time we changed them but it may be something else.

jcooper97TL

Your right, it's a misfire, only time the CEL flashes at you.

Assuming you have a distributor.

That is a classic problem, replace your distributor cap. You have either microcracks in it or a big crack, I guess the latter. During a moist day there are atmospheric pressure changes the crack opens just slightly letting atmospheric water in. The electircal connections are not being made properly. This fix looks intimidating on the 2.5 but I assure you it is easy.

Say you dont have a dirstubutor (3.2?)>you have an open plug in your plug wires. Same thing happens, ever tried to run a wet electrical circut?

Then CHECK AND REPLACE FOULED PLUGS, THEY ARE MOST LIKELY FOULED NOW.

vas25tl

Thank you for your thorough answer. I do have a 2.5. It hasn't done it since I posted, I will probably be replacing the distributor cap over the summer once it's warmer out.

It hasn't done it since, hopefully stays this way


I think I'm hitting 239K tomorrow morning

vas25tl

UPDATE:

Replaced the distributor cap, didn't want to post anything until we got some real humid rainy days here.

Completely fixed the problem, car runs much better, no misfiring and actually runs better when cold. I have also been seeing increasing MPG's. I hit 23.7 on my last tank, I usually hit between 21 and 22.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

is this on a 3G tl? We have a distributor?

Glad your problem is gone!

TLin401

How much did that run you?

main70072

This is on a 1st gen 2.5TL. All other TL should not have distributor cap and wires, but coil packs instead.

main70072

Dealer will replace free of charge if still under extended emission warranty. The warranty will soon expire after 14yrs so if anyone still need anything related to emission better get it done soon if it has not already expired.

TLin401

My Emission Warranty was already done.

vas25tl

That emission warranty was a great thing! My headers cracked at 149,xxx and they got replaced for free. I think it was well north of $1000 for the repair.

The distributor cost me like $35 or something around there. I did that and changed the tranny fluid (NOT FLUSHED)...still feel the trans shifting a little harder.

rlarge98tl

Vas, i'm having a simular problem with my 2.5 98, did it get to a point when driving the car lost power? and did you get a code at all from the cel? my car actually lost power while doing about 60mph and dropped to about 30 on it's on with my foot still on the pedal but picked up speed when i punched it, i'll change the cap and rotor and hopefully i'll get the results that you got.

vas25tl

Yeah - very similar. When the car would start misfiring, it would be pulling back a lot, I'd have to really step on the gas to kind of almost clear it out. You feel it, it starts sputtering. The CEL was on, but it would go off every time before I'd have a chance to scan it.

Good luck, mine has been fine ever since, and it was very wet out this morning.

clint999

Yeah - very similar. When the car would start misfiring, it would be pulling back a lot, I'd have to really step on the gas to kind of almost clear it out. You feel it, it starts sputtering. The CEL was on, but it would go off every time before I'd have a chance to scan it.

Good luck, mine has been fine ever since, and it was very wet out this morning.

rlarge98tl

my cap was cracked and my fuel filter was clogged, both original parts lol, runs great and just switched to a synthetic mix 10 30 it really runs great now